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Michael A. Davies, MD, PhD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Brain metastases are a devastating and increasingly common complication of advanced cancer. For example, previous studies have shown that up to 60% of patients with metastatic melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer, will be diagnosed with brain metastases during the course of their disease. Historically the average survival for melanoma patients with brain metastases was very short. However, recent, clinical trials with new immune and targeted therapies have demonstrated much more promising results. Despite these advances, most patients still fail to achieve durable control of brain metastases, and brain metastases remain a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in this disease. Thus, developing more effective strategies to prevent and treat brain metastases from melanoma remains a critical unmet need. |
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MD Anderson – Dr. Yinghong Wang MD, PhD
The Target Cancer is colon cancer and side effects of cancer treatment. Colitis is a devastating side effect of immune based colon cancer treatment and often results in stopping therapy to treat the cancer. Restoring the health of the colon is important so cancer treatment can resume. Restoring the fecal microbiome plays a critical role in normalizing colon function. This has been done successfully with fecal transplant therapy. An article in Nature medical journal has been published for this novel idea. The study will Take 10 patients with colitis (IMC) to receive fecal transplant after colon cancer therapy is interrupted. If fecal transplant is proven safe and effective then this ground breaking treatment to manage the side effect of IMC during colon cancer therapy. Best scenario would be to include fecal transplant therapy via colonoscopy as a part of standard care associated with immunotherapy. |
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Dr. Yun Nancy Huang 2018 CFOH Seed Grant Research Recipient
My research interest is in understanding the role of DNA modifications in health and disease. As I started my research program at Texas A&M University since July 2014, my laboratory has been focusing on elucidating the (patho)physiological functions of TET protein and its catalytic products in human cancers (Nat Genet 2016; Genome Biol 2016). My ongoing research directions include: (1) defining the dynamic changes of DNA modifications and their correlation with gene expression and transcriptional regulation; (2) delineating the regulatory network of DNA methylation/demethylation by using “omics” approaches to identify novel binding partners and complexes; (3) developing innovative (epi)genome-editing tools to alter aberrant DNA modifications implicated in cancer. |
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Samir "Sam" M. Hanash, MD, PhD
Dr. Hanash, professor of Clinical Cancer Prevention, was recruited to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in July 2012 to lead the Red and Charline McCombs Institute for the Early Detection and Treatment of Cancer as director. He is a pioneer in cancer proteomics, a field aimed at identifying, among thousands of proteins, those that inform about cancer. He was the inaugural president of the Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) and a founder of the US Human Proteome Organization. In 2006, Nature Biotechnology listed Dr. Hanash among the world’s most influential leaders in biotechnology for his work in cancer proteomics. |
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Stephanie A Pangas, Ph.D.
PROFESSIONAL STATEMENT Twenty percent of women’s health problems worldwide are attributed to reproductive and sexual health issues. Disruptions in normal reproductive function cause health problems that extend beyond infertility, and include increases in cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and cognitive disorders. Furthermore, ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy in women. In part, this is due to a lack of diagnostics needed for early detection. Therefore, the origin, diagnosis, and treatment of gynecological diseases are critical health issues that need to be addressed. |
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Steven A. Curley, M.D
Dr. Steven A. Curley specializes in providing surgical care for patients with hepatobiliary and pancreatic malignancies. As our chief of surgical oncology and cancer center associate director, he leads efforts at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and on the McNair campus to build a world-class, multidisciplinary surgical oncology program with significant national and international outreach and stature. Dr. Curley has been leading a basic sciences laboratory for 22 years. Currently, his research centers on the design, bench testing, and clinical study of novel noninvasive radiofrequency (RF) field treatment devices. Having developed two FDA-approved devices for invasive radiofrequency ablation needles to treat unresectable liver cancers, his current studies focus on targeted delivery of metallic or semiconducting nanoparticles that release heat under RF field induction to cause thermal cytotoxicity in cancer cells. His group has also performed complex physicochemical measurements of nanoparticles, and has conjugated them to antibodies, peptides, and pharmacologic agents to target cancer cells. He hopes to test these novel treatments in human clinical trials at BCM within the next two to three years, pending FDA approval. |
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Brendan Lee, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Lee is Professor of Molecular & Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Director of the Rolanette and Berdon Lawrence Bone Disease Program of Texas. He is also founder and director of the Skeletal Dysplasia Clinic at Texas Children’s Hospital and founder and director of the Medical Student Research Track at Baylor College of Medicine. As a pediatrician and geneticist, Dr. Lee studies structural birth defects and inborn errors of metabolism. Dr. Lee identified the first genetic causes of human skeletal dysplasias, birth defects that affect either the growth or strength of the skeleton. Most recently, he has studied the causes of brittle bone disease in children. In so doing, he is developing new approaches for diagnosing and treating these disorders. These conditions may present with hundreds of fractures at birth or isolated osteoporosis in children. Dr. Lee has received local and national recognition including induction into the American Association of Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Texas Academy of Medicine, Science, and Technology Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Medicine, the E. Meade Johnson Award for Pediatrics Research, the Michael E. DeBakey Excellence in Research Award, and the American Philosophical Society’s Judson Darland Prize for Patient-Oriented Clinical Investigation. |